


Newbird

by Capitol_Gee



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: BLUPJEANS BABY, Canon Divergence, Canon-Typical Violence, F/F, F/M, M/M, OC centric, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Spoilers for Episode: e060-066 The Stolen Century Parts 1-7, bad descriptions of battlewagon racing, bad descriptions of science, changed timeline
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-02
Updated: 2019-03-03
Packaged: 2019-09-05 20:26:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 9,466
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16817848
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Capitol_Gee/pseuds/Capitol_Gee
Summary: For nineteen years, Umi lived a lie. She lived the life of the Director's young daughter, sheltered and loved carefully. But she couldn't help but feel that something was missing, or wrong somehow. Some things made her sad without reason, and she could never figure out just what it was that made her feel that her life was...wrong.--A blupjeans baby fic in which the main character is an oc and the timeline is mine now.





	1. Prologue: Little One

Amara was a miracle child. The one good spot in a year full of suffering and regret.

Barry couldn’t believe it, for a while. Couldn’t believe that _holy shit he was gonna be a dad who authorized this_. Like, he was excited, of course. He’d _wanted_ this for a while, and he knew he would give that kid anything they wanted, ever, for the rest of his life. But it was such a shock. After all they’d been through, after everything they’d seen, it was almost surreal for something so normal as having a kid to happen.

It felt a little bit like the universe was playing a trick on him.

But then she was there, his _daughter_ , crying and breathing and _alive_ , and Barry felt himself fall in love again. She was tiny, and she already looked like Lup. Her ears were less pointed, in the way of all half-elves, and she slept most of the time, but every time Barry held her he felt like crying because he loved her so goddamn much.

Her name was Amara.

For months, she was the only thing that really kept them going. With all the destruction and pain and war around them, Amara was a beacon of goodness. A reminder, that good things could still happen. They all needed that reminder, most days.

Not to mention, she was fuckin’ adorable.

They lived through the year. They lived through two years.

And Lup disappeared.

It wasn’t hard to figure out why she went, not for those who knew her best (and honestly, the six of them knew her better than anyone else). Barry knew. She went looking for the glove she’d made, to hide it where no one else could find it ever again. She went to stop the destruction.

Sometimes, Barry stood at the edge of the Starblaster’s deck, holding his sleeping daughter, looking out as if he would see Lup come running back. He never did.

He started looking for her, scouring the world for any sign of Lup. He wasn’t going to live without her. He wasn’t going to sentence Amara to not having her mother. It wasn’t happening. He and Taako hunted constantly, looking everywhere they could to find her, searching every dungeon, every deep hole, every place far from civilization. Anywhere they thought Lup would have taken the glove. Nothing worked. Nothing worked.

He put Amara down for a nap one day, kissing her on the forehead as she curled around her stuffed duck toy. “Sleep well, ‘Mara,” he said. As far as babies went (as far as Barry knew), Amara had never had a problem sleeping. Thankfully. He turned off the light, closed the door.

And went out onto the deck, where a map marked with potential places Lup might be lay spread on the table. He’d spent hours hunched over that map, taking advantage of any time he could to plot his next search location. He sat down at the table, his head in his hands and elbows propped on the table, and stared at the map without really seeing it. He wished, just for a moment, that he could be a kid, that he could sleep as much as Amara. He hadn’t let himself rest in weeks, months even...

He blinked awake. Taako stood at his side, fiddling with his robe, looking at the map. “Sorry,” Barry said, rubbing his face. “Um, anyway, there’s a- there’s a dungeon out beyond the Felicity Wilds?” He gestured towards the spot on the map. “It’s a subterranean...demonic...keep-thing.” He rubbed at his eyes, sighing. He was so tired, but he would never give up on Lup. “There’s a bunch of arcane energy coming off of it. I was gonna check it out tonight, if you wanna come with.”

Taako nodded. “Yeah, where were-” he stopped, looking a little frustrated with himself. He’d been stuttering more since Lup disappeared, Barry noticed. “Where were- remind me, how far is that in relation to the last glassing?”

Barry blinked down at the map. “Um, I’ve triangulated it here.” He pointed. The last glassing, as they’d taken to calling the places where the glove turned everything to glass, was very close to the dungeon he was looking at.

Taako nodded. “Yeah, it seems like as good a place as any. Do you want to do the usual, I’ll go down and start casting around, see if I can pick up anything, and then- you start talking to folks?”

“Yep,” Barry said. It was a system they’d put together early into their search, an easy way to cover all the bases as quickly as possible. It hadn’t gotten them anywhere yet, but they were trying. “I mean, it hasn’t worked so far, but-” he winced. He was blaming that truly awful statement on his own exhaustion. “-it’s gotta work one of these times.”

He sighed again, running a hand over his face. “Taako, what if she’s just gone?” It was something Barry found himself thinking about more and more, as they were running out of places to look and never found her. He hated it, hated thinking it and saying it, but...he had to think that maybe it was true.

There was a long pause. “...Who?”

Barry’s heart plummeted. He stood up, gaping at Taako. How could he forget? Did he zone out? He did that sometimes, but not when they were talking about their search. “Taako?” he said, “Taako, I-”

“What if who’s gone?” Taako asked again, tilting his head as he stared blankly at Barry.

Barry blinked. He couldn’t remember what was going on. “What are we...?” he mused, staring at the table as he tried to remember. It was just out of his reach... “Oh, god,” he groaned. He put his head in his hands. How could he forget? “Lup... Taako, I’m-” he jerked his head up, staring wide-eyed at Taako. When he thought of Lup, all he got was a blank. “I can’t remember her face, Taako,” he said, panicked. “Taako, where-"

Taako interrupted him, his own eyes wide and panicked now. Taako was crying. “Whose face?” he demanded, lurching forward to grab at Barry’s shoulders.

Barry’s mind was racing. He couldn’t hold on to any thought for long, couldn’t look at the table beside him without his mind fizzing out. “Is this Fisher?” he demanded, knowing already that Taako probably wouldn’t understand him. If it really was Fisher, he needed to figure out why this was happening. The only thing that could have been to erase all these memories is Lucretia’s journals, and she was oddly protective over them.

He clenched his fists. He couldn’t do this. He couldn’t forget, he wouldn’t let himself, it wasn’t happening. “Taako, k- kill me!” he said, “Right now! I’ll- I’ll remember if I’m a lich, please, Taako, just kill me! It’ll be okay! I can’t forget, I’m begging you, please, Taako!”

Face tear-streaked, Taako pushed away from Barry, pulling out his wand and pointing to directly at Barry’s chest. Barry didn’t even know what spell he cast, didn’t have time to process it as the magic hit him and sent him stumbling off the edge of the ship. He felt the wind rip at his robes, felt himself smile as the memory of Lup returned, and thought of his daughter. He hoped she would be safe.

Then he hit the ground.


	2. One: First Years

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Memory of a small child.

The first thing Umi remembered was being three years old, sitting on the floor and playing games with Davenport while Mommy worked at a desk in the corner. Dav was fun to play with. He knew the right noises for all the animals and didn’t talk to her like she was a baby, like lots of grownups did. Even Mommy did sometimes. But never Dav.

The memory was a flash, moving like water to the next: still three, cradled in Mommy’s arms. She thought Mommy was crying. There were no lights, so Umi was probably s’possed to be asleep, but she was awake and Mommy was sad. She didn’t like it when people were sad, so she wiggled enough to get her arms around Mommy and tried to hug her back. Mommy shook harder. Umi’s hair was wet.

Her next memory: she’s almost four, and Lucas is being a _meanie_ , cause he’s eight and bigger than her. Mommy says she should play nice with Lucas, cause _she’s_ working with _his_ mommy on something important. But Lucas is a meanie and Umi doesn’t like him so she pulls all the toys towards her and doesn’t look at him all day.

Next: four years old, her birthday. Dav woke her up with a the smell of pancakes and his cooking meant Mommy left early but that was okay cause Dav was more fun. She bounced out of bed and tackled Dav into a hug ( _after_ making sure he wasn’t flipping a pancake). “‘S my birfday!”

Dav looked down at her (she wasn’t big enough to knock him down, even if he was small too) and patted her on the back. “I know,” he said, “Happy birthday Umi.” She squeezed him tighter but let go when he asked her to sit at the table ‘cause the pancakes were almost ready. She could sit real quiet when Mommy or Dav asked her to, ‘specially if yummy pancakes were coming.

After breakfast, Dav took Umi to go see Mommy at work, where she was busy with Lucas’s mommy. Umi didn’t know what Mommy’s work was, just that it was important and compli-cated and took a lot of time.

Mommy was happy to see Umi, though, and picked her up and twirled her around. “Happy birthday,” she said, holding Umi close the way she did when she got really happy or sad. “You’re getting so big...”

Umi hooked her arms around Mommy’s neck and kissed her nose. “‘M only four!” she said, giggling, and Mommy smiled too. Umi liked it when Mommy smiled.

“That’s right,” she said. “You’re four today.”

When remembering that moment, years later, Umi would note a sadness in her voice that she didn’t see at four years old. She wouldn’t know what it meant for a long time.

\--

When Umi was five, Mommy left her alone with Dav for a long time.

Well, it _felt_ like a long time. For a five year old, though, it wasn’t hard for things to take forever. But Mommy was gone for _days_ , and she was never gone that long, never away for more than half a day at a time. Umi cried after lunch on the second day. She tried not to cry much, because she was a big girl and really smart, but she just wanted her Mommy back.

(And she felt the yawning of a hole inside her chest begging to be filled with _something_ she didn’t know, but it _hurt_ , more than she could bear.)

Dav sat with her, and hugged her, and told her it would be okay and that Mommy would come back just fine, and Umi _believed_ him, but it didn’t make it easier at all. So she threw herself into Dav’s arms and cried into his chest until her tears were gone.

When she stopped crying, and sat up again, and wiped her face, Dav handed her the han’kerchief he kept in his pocket. He was proper like that, sometimes. Umi wiped her eyes and blew her nose. Dav got up to make her some cocoa, telling her to stay put, that it would be okay, but she got up to follow him, wrapping her arms around him while he stood at the stove. He stared down at her.

“Don’ go ‘nywhere, Dav,” she mumbled. “Don’ wanna be alone.”

Dav put a hand on her head, smoothing her hair back. “I won’t,” he said, “You won’t be alone, Umi.”

\--

Mommy came back a day after that, stumbling through the door when Dav was trying to get Umi to go to sleep and not ask questions about when Mommy was coming back. The door swung open, and Mommy almost fell down. Her leg was hurt.

Umi leaped from her bed and ran to Mommy. She stopped before running into her, because Mommy was leaned over with a hand against the wall. She put a hand on Mommy’s good leg, looking up into her face. Mommy didn’t seem to notice her. “Davenport,” she gasped. Her voice was like gravel, like it must hurt to talk. “I need help. Please.”

“What can I do?” Dav asked, stepping closer to Mommy and Umi. Umi looked back at him. He looked the way he did when Umi accidentally hurt herself, or when there was a problem. Umi didn’t like that look at all.

Mommy put her free hand on Umi’s head. “A chair,” she said, “And- I have a wound. I think I need to clean it, if you can.” Dav just nodded, pulling over one of the kitchen chairs. Mommy sat down in it, moving Umi out of the way carefully. She stood next to Mommy though, holding her hand. She wasn’t going to bed now, not with Mommy back.

She was never letting Mommy go if she could help it.


	3. Two: Millers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Umi gets older, and so does Lucas Miller - who, sadly, might be her only friend.

Umi was eight, stretched out on the floor of Mrs. Miller’s lab, frowning at the book in front of her. She was kicking her legs, even though Mom told her not to. Mom wasn’t paying attention anyway. She was across the room, talking to Mrs. Miller about something Umi wasn’t allowed to hear. “Grown-up business”, according to Mom. Umi didn’t care too much, really. As long as she got to stay here instead of going to school, like Lucas. He _hated_ that she got to stay with their moms and Davenport instead of going to real school like he did. She loved holding it over his head.

She was reading a science book Mrs. Miller gave her, which was actually interesting, but _really_ hard to understand. Umi liked writing and history more than she liked science. She knew she had to know science, of course, but she had a hard time figuring it out.

The worst part of it was, Umi knew this book was written for kids her age in the first place. But knowing that just made her feel dumber.

She tugged gently on a piece of her hair in frustration, reading the same sentence for the fourth time. Why did it have to be so hard?

She must have made a noise of some kind, because both Mrs. Miller and Mom both looked over at her. Mom frowned a little. “Is everything okay, Umi?” she asked.

Umi glared at the book some more. “This is impossible,” she groaned. She shoved the book away from her and put her head down on her crossed arms. “I give up.”

She could hear Mom’s sigh from across the room, and ran through her mental list of Mom’s sighs. There were a few different ones. There was one that meant she was annoyed, there was one that meant she was sad (that one came a lot late at night, or when she looked at her staff distantly, or sometimes when she looked at Umi). Another one meant that she was tired. This one, Umi decided, was the one that meant she didn’t want to be interrupted, but loved Umi too much to tell her no. Umi got that one a lot.

She heard footsteps crossing the shiny floor of the lab, stopping next to her. There was the sound of fabric moving, and a hand settled on Umi’s back. “What’s giving you trouble?” Mrs. Miller asked.

Umi liked Mrs. Miller. She was nice, not like Lucas was sometimes, and really patient. And she was smart, and didn’t treat Umi like she _wasn’t_ smart just because she was a kid. And Mom liked Mrs. Miller - she made her smile a lot, and Umi liked it when Mom smiled.

She looked up at Mrs. Miller, lifting her head. “I don’t get this,” she said, pulling the book towards her again. She pointed at the section she’d been reading.

Mrs. Miller leaned over a little to read the section, moving her mouth along with the words as she read. “Ohhh, I see,” she said, shifting so she wasn’t balanced on the balls of her feet. “See, look, let me try to explain...”

Umi scrambled to sit up, to listen better. She had a hard time reading and listening at the same time, so she wanted to look at Mrs. Miller’s face while she explained. As she did, she glanced at Mom, who was still watching them from the workstation. A small smile was on her face, and Umi grinned.

\--

Umi was ten when she started studying magic.

She knew it was early, for most kids. She knew she was ahead of schedule, technically, at least where magic as concerned. But it interested her, almost as much as history (which she was even _more_ ahead on, so like, shut up). She was only on stuff like Mage Hand anyway, nothing too impressive.

She was getting pretty darn good at Mage Hand, though, if she said so herself.

(Mom said so too, smiling and ruffling Umi’s hair. The smile was a little sad, though, and when Umi noticed that she felt a pang deep in her chest. She didn’t like that at all.)

She was sitting in a “magic-allowed zone” of the lab specifically made by Mrs. Miller for when Umi and Lucas practiced magic. Lucas wasn’t nearly as good at it as Umi was, which she was very smug about. She wasn’t often better at something than Lucas, so she felt like she got to be as smug as she wanted. And she _would_ be, thank you very much.

But Lucas was standing beside her, watching as she cast Dancing Lights - a new spell Mom gave her to try. She’d only tried it a few times, but she liked it so far. It was pretty. When it worked, that was. Lucas kept trying to tell her how to “do it better”, but Umi ignored him. What did he know? Nothing, that’s what, so there Lucas.

She wiggled her fingers, and a small ball of light appeared in front of Lucas’s face. He blinked, really quickly, and leaned backwards, swatting a hand at the light. Umi stuck her tongue out at him and moved it closer to him. “You can’t move it like _that_!” she told him.

“You don’t know,” Lucas sneered. She was right, though, she’d tried to poke the light the first time the spell worked and her hand went right through. Again, so _there_ Lucas.

Umi suck her tongue out at him. He rolled his eyes, and said, “Can I go? I don’t need to babysit you all the time.”

“You’re not babysitting me,” Umi said. The light vanished. “I thought you would practice too. I thought you _liked_ magic.” She crossed her arms, and if anyone asked she would say otherwise, but she was pouting. Couldn’t Lucas just have fun for once? Not everything was science and school and being smarter than everyone else. Like, Umi knew she was pretty smart, duh. But Lucas was kinda mean about being smart - like it made him better than other people. Umi didn’t like that much at all.

“Science is better than magic,” Lucas said, crossing his arms. “It makes sense.”

“It doesn’t to me,” Umi said, “Magic makes sense to me.” She was better at science now than she used to be, and was technically ahead of other kids her age, but that didn’t mean she liked it.

Lucas blinked at her. “What?” he said, “No, come on, I gotta fix this.” He grabbed her hand and started pulling her out of the magic corner. “I know I can find some way to help you get it.”

“Hey!” Umi pulled tried to pull his hand off her, but it didn’t work. “I wasn’t done, Lucas!” she protested. “Let go!”

Lucas did let go, but only when they reached the desk where Umi kept her books. He dropped her hand, and started rooting around for the science book. “Come on, Umi. You let me help you with this and I’ll let you show me your spells as often as you want.”

Umi glared at him. She knew what he was trying to do, he was trying to bribe her. And he knew it would work, too. “Fine, whatever,” she said. “But I want that in writing, got it?”

Lucas rolled his eyes. “Whatever, fine, yeah,” he said, flipping through the book. “Here, this is what you’re doing, right?” Umi nodded, already mentally drawing up a contract to make Lucas sign - no way she was letting him get away with not holding up his end of this. Lucas pulled up a chair, motioning for her to do the same, and grabbed at some paper. “All right, here, let me show you...”

Umi reluctantly sat down, holding her head up with hands propped on the edge of the desk. “Good luck,” she muttered. Lucas pretended to ignore her. Typical.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sadly, I’m just as bad at science as Umi, so I couldn’t write the Millers explaining science to her. Oh well!


	4. Three: An Interlude

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We see what Barry’s been up to, to a certain degree.

It took Barry a long time to get his act together. The auction was the biggest windfall he had; being able to re-grow himself a body every few months was incredibly useful.

He started out looking for Lup. It was difficult, and he found out pretty quickly that he couldn’t remember anything about Lup or Lucretia or the others when he was in a body. He didn’t even remember that he was a lich. But he could feel the pain of missing Lup, and he found ways to leave notes and directions for himself to follow.

Not that leaving himself notes made finding anything any easier. He still had no idea where Lup was, had no idea how to fix whatever Lucretia had done. He knew what she was after, that much was pretty obvious, but he couldn’t figure out how to change her plans or stop her. And his bodies kept dying. That sucked a little.

When he waited for new bodies to grow, he researched and tried to keep an eye on those he could locate. Mostly Amara, to be honest. He needed to know that she was taken care of and healthy. That she was happy.

The first time he saw her, he was in a new body and had no idea who she was. She was seven, walking with Lucretia down the streets of a small town not far from Neverwinter. Barry was there looking for leads, he knew that much even in his body. He didn’t know the significance of the tall, white-haired woman and the small brown-haired girl with big blue eyes. When he saw them, though, his heart ached. He passed it off as fear that he wouldn’t find whatever it was he was looking for. He only realized the truth later.

She was eleven now. He’d kept an eye on her since then, mostly in lich form. Just to make sure she was okay. He never talked to her. In human form he wouldn’t know why and in lich form he would only scare her, but he kept an eye on her. He needed to make sure his little girl was okay.

In lich form, Barry hovered, invisible, a few feet above the street. Amara walked on the other side of the street, dragging an older boy by the hand. The boy was Lucas Miller, son of a scientist, and Amara’s closest friend. The pair of them were headed in the direction of the Neverwinter Library, Amara nearly bouncing up and down with excitement. Lucas looked bored, fiddling with his glasses and telling her to slow down. Barry couldn’t help but smile.

No matter how angry he was at Lucretia, he was glad she was taking care of Amara.


	5. Four: Special

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A little moment, quiet and good.

Umi loved learning of all kinds. Mom made that easier, giving Umi access to books and people with knowledge and research. And Umi took advantage of that when she could. Learning gave her a feeling of happiness like one she never felt otherwise, making her want to jump up and down in excitement when she grasped a new concept.

Lucas kept up his end of their deal. She showed him spells she wanted to try, practiced with him, and asked him if he had any ideas for how to make them better. She was still only on cantrips (she was only thirteen, after all), but she was getting pretty good at them. In return, she let Lucas help her with science, showing her complicated concepts and talking through his projects with her. It helped that Lucas was actually pretty smart.

Today, though, Umi, Davenport, and Mom were staying home. The small set of rooms they stayed in when Umi was younger was way too small for them now, since Umi was older and the three of them had acquired more things through the years. They’d spread out, into a rented house instead. Umi liked having so much space to herself.

Umi knocked on the doorframe of Mom’s study. “Hey,” she said, “can I come in?”

Mom sat at her desk, writing something in a blue leather journal. She had lots of those, Umi thought. Or she wrote in very small print in one notebook, and had been for as long as Umi could remember. Sometimes Umi wondered what she could be writing in there - notes for whatever he work was, probably, but it seemed like a lot of writing. Mom was never without a journal.

She looked up from it now. “Yes, of course. Come in.” She closed the journal and put it her pen down as Umi stepped into the room. “Is everything all right?”

Umi nodded. “Yeah, nothing’s wrong.” She raised a hand to run it through her long hair. She needed it trimmed soon, she thought. “I just...wanted to sit with you?” She held up a book she’d brought with her, one she was reading for the fun of it, not for school. “We haven’t done that in a while.”

Mom’s face relaxed, and she smiled. “Of course, Umi.” She stood from her desk, moving to a pair of chairs set next to the fireplace on another wall. “Come sit. What book are you reading?”

Umi settled into the second chair as she said, “It’s about this sorcerer who goes on lots of adventures,” she said, opening it to the page she left off at. “Her name’s Harmony Grayson, and she’s really cool!”

Mom smiled, jotting something down in her journal. “That does sound very cool,” she agreed. “I’m glad you’re enjoying it.”

Umi nodded. “Yeah! I think it might be my favorite.” She ran a hand over the front cover. “There’s like, three more books I haven’t read, but the library has them, so I don’t have to spend any money.” She got a little allowance, just a few copper, maybe a silver. Even still, Umi didn’t like to spend it quickly. She was good at saving money. And at getting Lucas to buy her sweets.

Mom wrote another note, sort of tilting the journal a little, like she was writing sideways. She was smiling, and she didn’t take her eyes off of Umi. That was one thing Umi liked about spending time alone with Mom - she could be writing and still pay complete attention to the conversation, to Umi, and it made her feel special. It made her feel lots of love from Mom, and she really, _really_ liked that. She liked to feel special.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for such a short one this week, been busy with school starting again. And yes, Harmony Grayson is 100% inspired by Hermione Granger.


	6. Five: Magic

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Umi has a decision to make...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apologies for missing last week! Homework and being sick got the better of me

Umi sat in the middle of a circle of magic books in her bedroom. Each one was a first-level spellbook from a different school of magic. She’d been studying magic for five years, and hadn’t picked a focus, a school, yet. They all interested her, each of them with its own draws and fascinations, and she just could not decide. She knew Mom was in Abjuration, which was actually the least interesting to her. Necromancy wasn’t technically an option - she didn’t really want to get in trouble for it - even though it was interesting. The book she had was really only theory, anyway.

Dav knew some Illusion magic, and used to make her laugh by showing off. Umi had fond memories of Illusion magic, but it didn’t really call to her. Conjuration was useful, but something in Umi resisted the idea of just...summoning things to her side whenever she wanted. It was a bit odd to her. Divination was another interesting one, though Umi was pretty sure she didn’t really have the patience for it. Enchantment gave her the same problem as Conjuration - Umi wasn’t one for controlling others.

That left Transmutation and Evocation. Most of the cantrips Umi knew were Evocation, but a lot of cantrips in general were Evocation. Good with damage, if you were going to be in a fight, and showy to prove you could do magic for your friends. Besides that, it was very elemental, and Umi was always fascinated by that. Transmutation, though, was just as interesting. Umi liked the idea of changing one thing to another on a whim, of transformation and change.

She shoved the other books away from her, picking up the Evocation and Transmutation books and sitting cross-legged, putting one book on each knee. She rested a hand on each one and blew out a breath.

This was way harder than she thought it would be.

Umi stared at one book, then the other. She had to pick one. She couldn’t say with cantrips and easy spells forever. In truth, she was hoping that one of them would...call to her or something. Which was probably a stupid thing to hope, but Divination existed so how stupid was it really? Unfortunately, she didn’t think there was a Divination spell to help her figure out which school she should pick. And even if there was, it would probably indicate that she should choose Divination.

She closed her eyes.

Transmutation: gave her the ability to have the world, literally, at her fingertips. She could improve the abilities of friends and change materials on a whim. Evocation: gave her control over the elements, she could make lots of fire and ice and stuff like that. The closest she would ever get to being a druid.

Umi took a deep breath. And pushed the Evocation book off her knee. Transmutation it was.

\--

Umi squinted at the page, trying to cast Mending on a broken plate she’d found to practice with. She was sitting in the Magic Corner of the lab, alone. Lucas was out for the day, and Mom and Mrs. Miller were busy with their own stuff. Davenport was helping them out with some organizational thing, Umi had no idea what. So she was alone in the corner, trying her hardest to cast this spell.

She’d gotten a new wand for her birthday, from Mom and Davenport. It was a long, thin piece of pale wood, a little crooked at the end. Mom said it was hand-made just for her, and Umi could easily believe that. She knew the magic store they’d bought it from; the place specialized in quality, hand-made equipment. It was the most beautiful wand Umi had ever seen, but right now it wasn’t doing shit.

She glared down at it, shaking it a little in her hands as if that would help anything (it wouldn’t - she knew that from experience). She knew she could cast this spell. She _knew_ it. Maybe if she tried harder-

Umi closed her eyes, breathing deeply and trying to focus. She could do this. Opening her eyes, she pointed her wand at the broken plate, placing the other hand on it and muttering the words of the spell. And this time, it worked. The pieces of the plate formed back together, drawn together like metal to one of Mrs. Miller’s magnets. Each piece slotted into its place, like it was never broken. Umi couldn’t even see any cracks. She grinned, scooping up the plate and running to where Mom was working.

“Mom! Mom look at this!” Umi said, skidding to a stop in front of her. She held up the plate triumphantly, bouncing a little on her toes. “I fixed it!”

Mom put down her pen, reaching to take the plate from Umi. “Mending?” she asked, looking the plate over. She looked like she was taken off-guard, with her eyes wide and her face a little pale. Umi couldn’t guess why. “This is good, Umi.” She looked up at Umi with a smile, looking less shocked. If Umi had to take a guess, she would say Mom was proud, and also a little sad. “You’re learning very quickly.”

Umi bounced some more. “Thanks, Mom!” she said. She flung her arms around Mom’s neck, startling her into almost dropping the plate again. “I’m trying really hard,” she said, quieter.

Umi felt Mom stiffen, freezing with her hands halfway around Umi. “You...you’re doing just fine, Umi,” she said after a moment, moving again. She pulled Umi into her, holding her tight. “Don’t you worry, all right? Don’t worry.”

Umi buried her face in Mom’s chest, the way she did a lot when she was little and scared to sleep on her own. “No promises.”


	7. Six: Nell

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Umi makes a new friend....

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ack, sorry for lateness! Had a very busy weekend. I went out of town for a funeral and didn't have much time at the computer. Enjoy!

Goldcliff was the most fascinating, bright, amazing place Umi had ever been. Everything was so colorful and shiny, and she could just _see_ the richness of the city everywhere she looked. It was huge--not as big as Neverwinter, but it seemed like it took up a lot more space. Maybe it was just more spread out, but Umi thought maybe Goldcliff was just _more_ than Neverwinter. And there was the cliff at the edge of town, where Umi stood at the edge and couldn’t see the bottom, and the desert where dust kicked up into plumes taller than most of the city’s buildings.

She loved being there.

Of course, she and Mom and Lucas were there for a reason. Something to do with the organization Mom was building. All Umi knew was that Mom was forming a group of people, starting with Lucas and his mom, to hunt down these really powerful magic items that seemed to scare the crap out of her. When she explained it to Umi, Mom said that she was looking for one of them that time she was gone for so long when Umi was five. So finding people who cared about the continued existence of the world and had the power to ensure that seemed like a pretty good idea to Umi.

The three of them were in Goldcliff to talk to some people Mom thought could help them. Goldcliff was a pretty big city, after all, so lots of people would be able to help. It was the willingness to help that they needed to determine.

Currently, they were walking through downtown Goldcliff, making their way to the militia office to meet with a man named Baine. Umi kept getting distracted, trying to see what was going on in the desert to bring up such wild dust clouds between the buildings, but Mom and Lucas pulled her away. She couldn’t help her curiosity, though, and she _really_ couldn’t help the fact that she kept looking. 

“What is that?” she asked the next time Mom pulled her to her side, skipping a little as she walked. Mom liked to say she had too much energy for a sixteen-year-old, but Umi was just excited.

“Battlewagon races,” Lucas answered. “They’re not legal, so don’t even thinking about asking to go. Right, Lucretia?”

Mom nodded. “He’s right, Umi. The races are illegal; everyone out there is anonymous. We can’t go watch. I know you want to.”

Umi laughed. “Yeah, I do.” She sighed a little bit. “All right, let’s go,” she said, pulling her jacket around her shoulders. It wasn’t cold here in Goldcliff, but she liked the comfort of having the jacket on. As they walked, she couldn’t help but keep glancing at the race.

\--

The meeting with Captain Captain Baine (and what a coincidence that name was, you know?) went pretty well. He was a big guy, towering far over Umi, and she was a pretty tall girl. If Umi didn’t know he was a good guy, she’d have been scared of him. As it was, she was still a little nervous. She kept behind Mom, letting her and Lucas do all the talking. Instead, she looked around the office.

It wasn’t the biggest, and had one big window behind the desk. The desk took up most of the room in the office. There was one bookshelf that seemed to mostly hold anything _but_ books, and not a lot of that. There were a couple chairs in front of the desk, but only Mom had sat down. Lucas and Umi stood. Baine had settled in a chair behind his desk.

It was more than a little awkward.

Captain Captain Baine didn’t seem to know how to handle the three of them, not all at once at least. And sure, they were a weird group: a powerful-sounding woman in her 50’s, a rather rude young scientist, and an excitable yet quiet teenage girl. Separately was one thing, but all three of them together was something else entirely.

He shifted awkwardly behind his desk. “So you’re looking for these magic items?” he asked Mom. She nodded, solemn as Umi had ever seen her. Baine sighed. “And what’re gonna do with them when you find them?”

Mom leaned forward. “We will destroy them, of course,” she said. “Captain Baine, these are not just items, they are weapons that can destroy the world when wielded. I aim to remove them from society and destroy them before they can do so.” She leaned back again, settling against the back of her chair. “I have not yet found a method to do so, but I am confident that with the help of the Miller family I will be able to.”

The Captain glanced at Lucas, who nodded. “We’re working on it,” he assured Baine. The Captain didn’t look too reassured though.

“And what do you want from me?” he asked, turning back to Mom.

“All I would need from you, Captain,” Mom said, “is for you to keep an eye out. To look for these items and alert me when they are found. As law enforcement, you will likely be one of the first to know.”

The Captain nodded. “All right. All right, I can do that.” He took a breath. He seemed a little nervous, Umi thought, but not the kind of nervous that would get them in trouble. More like the kind of nervous that most people would be in this kind of situation.

Mom nodded. “Thank you, Captain. We are still forming our organization, but we will be in touch.” She stood, glancing back at Lucas and Umi. “We will be in the city for a few days, if you need to contact us.”

Captain Baine stood as well. “Yeah, yeah, I will. Um, I’ll see you?” Mom nodded again, and with a quick “goodbye”, the three of them left his office.

\--

The three of them wandered down the street the next day. Umi almost asked Mom, the day before, if she could go see what the races were all about, but it was over by the time they left Captain Baine’s office. She was pretty sure Mom wouldn’t let her watch anyway.

Today they were at Goldcliff’s biggest marketplace, poking around. Lucas wanted to find a gift for his mom, but other than that, they were just looking. The marketplace bustled around Umi as she looked over some probably-overpriced jewelry, Mom at her side. She wasn’t finding much to interest her, yet.

Someone brushed up against Umi’s side, reaching for a silver chain with a sapphire pendant. “This,” a voice said beside her, “would look great on you.” Umi expected the person to turn to show someone else, but instead they turned towards her, holding the necklace out for her to take. Umi looked towards them.

It was a girl, probably not much older than Umi, with dark skin (not as dark as Mom’s, but like Mrs. Miller’s) and very long black hair. She wore dark clothes, and she was looking Umi right in the eyes. She was absolutely gorgeous. And then she smiled.

If Umi was willing to overstate things, she would say that it was like sunshine beamed directly into her soul. Maybe she would say that anyway. It was certainly a really nice smile. She looked genuinely pleased to see Umi, even though they’d never met before.

_Oh,_ Umi thought, _I’m gay._ Not that she hadn’t known that before, but, like. She’d never met a girl she instantly liked like this before. And all she’d done was _smile_.

Not able to look away from the girl’s face, Umi reached for the necklace. “You think?” she asked, stuttering a bit. She tried to stop her blush.

The girl nodded, also not looking away. “Yeah. I’d suggest you try it.”

“Not without paying for it!” the shopkeep added, but neither Umi or the stranger payed her any attention.

“Yeah, okay,” Umi said. “I assume you have amazing judgement.”

The girl grinned again, and Umi’s heart stopped for a hot second. “Oh, I think I do,” she said, flicking her eyes down to Umi’s blue dress and then back up to her eyes. “In fact, I have it on good authority that blue is your color.”

Umi smiled in return. “On good authority, huh? I guess I just have to buy it then.” She ran a thumb alone the stone’s setting, feeling small ridges against her skin. It _was_ a lovely necklace, she had to admit. The girl had good taste. “And I’ll be sure to thank you every time I wear it.”

The girl laughed, and brushed some hair behind her shoulders, and the light hitting it was probably one of the prettiest things Umi had ever seen and she reminded herself to keep her mouth shut. “You don’t have to do that,” the girl said, “but I’d sure appreciate it.” She reached out a little, then pulled her hand back. “I’m Nell.”

Umi’s fingers closed around the necklace. “Not a problem,” she said, and shoved her other hand towards Nell forcefully. “I’m Umi.” Nell took the offered hand, not shaking it, but holding it instead. Umi licked her lips. _God,_ she was gay.

“I’m glad to meet you, Umi.” Nell said, and Umi knew she needed to talk to this girl more.

Umi dropped her hand and almost dropped the necklace as she turned to Mom. “Can I have some paper? And a pen?” she asked, tongue tripping over her own words. Mom obviously tried to hide a smile as she handed both to Umi--because of course she had them on her, she always did--but Umi ignored that as she turned back to Nell.

“Can I write to you?” she asked, already scrawling down her own address. “If you don’t want to that’s okay, but I think we could be friends,” _Or something else,_ she added internally, but, like. She didn’t want to scare the really pretty girl away.

Nell reached the paper as soon as Umi stopped writing, tearing it in half and tucking the half with Umi’s information into a pocket. “I agree,” she said, taking the pen and writing something down. “I’d love to be your friend.” She pressed the pen and paper into Umi’s hands, giving her one last beautiful smile, before a woman yelled “NELL, WE GOTTA GO!” and she turned away, black hair flying.

“Write me!” she yelled, and she was gone.

Umi stared after her for a moment, clutching pen, paper, and necklace in her hands, mouth slightly open. She turned, eyes wide. “Mom,” she said, “what just happened?”

Mom laughed, gently prying the necklace out of Umi’s hand to pay for it. “I think that’s a crush, Umi,” she said.

Umi glanced down at the paper in her hand. Nell had written: _Nell, 42 Harboring Way, Goldcliff. By the way, I think you’re cute._ She felt her hands start trembling and her heart stop, and she said “Oh,” in the tiniest of voices.

Mom was totally right.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Taa-daaa, new character! Listen, I love Nell a lot and I hope y'all do too, she's pretty fun. Please let me know what you think!


	8. Seven: Interlude - Frustration

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Another peak at how Barry's doing, after all this time...

Barry saw Amara again in the streets of Goldcliff. She was sixteen then, by his count, and without Lucretia and the Miller boy. Instead, the had an arm twined around that of a tall dark-skinned girl about her age. He couldn’t remember Amara, in his body, but even still he felt like he was supposed to look out for her.

He watched the pair carefully, trying not to come off as creepy. He knew what he looked like: a middle-aged dude watching a couple of teenage girls was pretty terrible, objectively. So he made his watching sneaky, never looking directly at them. It would be hard for him to explain his staring anyway - he had no idea why he was, after all. He just knew that he felt the need to keep on eye on them. On one of them?

Later, when he was back in lich form and could remember again, he remembered the day. She’d gotten so tall, though the other girl was taller. She looked happy, too - she kept looking up at the other girl with a giant grin that reminded Barry of himself with Lup.

He missed her. He missed her and Lup so much. At least he could keep track of Amara, though she had no idea who he was. He was glad she was happy.

And, apparently, she was going on dates. That was interesting.

\--

Barry stared at the map on his wall. It was as close to the map he had on the Starblaster he could get, marked with places he thought Lup could be and places he’d already looked. He also had the locations of all the other crew members marked - or as close as he could get. Magnus and Taako he’d lost track of about a year ago. Merle was wandering, but Barry was able to keep track of him well enough. Not often you ran into someone like Merle. He knew where Davenport was, now too. Lucretia kept him with her, like she kept Amara. Barry couldn’t guess why - he’d never been able to get close enough to actually talk to the captain.

This would all be a lot easier if Lucretia hadn’t hidden the Starblaster. Barry couldn’t even begin to guess where she’d put it, all those years ago. At the time, he was too busy struggling to hold onto himself to keep track, and now he was just lost.

One good thing, though: Lucretia was no closer now than the was ten years ago. She hadn’t been able to find any more relics. Barry would have to keep an eye on that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A really short one this time, but I thought it'd be nice to get another look at Barry! I love writing him, he's just great. Next week's chapter should be a fun one, but please tell me what you're thinking so far!


	9. Eight: Desert Race

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Umi takes some time off to finally watch a battlewagon race!

The summer air was humid enough that Umi’s hair frizzed up, but dry enough that she didn’t feel like she was swimming by just standing up. It _was_ extremely hot, though. Too hot, if you asked Umi. But she didn’t think too much on it as she leaned over the edge of the pylon to watch the battlewagon race.

She’d been in Goldcliff for two days, though Nell had asked her if she wanted to watch her race as soon as she arrived. They’d known each other for a year now, through writing most of the time. At some point, though, tentative flirting turned to serious flirting, and then they both, separately, realized they were far too attracted to each other to just be friends. So they decided to be girlfriends instead. Umi _really_ liked the idea of that. This was the first time Nell had visited since they’d first met, and she was without Mom - honestly, it was kind of amazing Mom let Umi out of her sight. But Nell’s moms were around, so that may have helped.

The race started ten minutes ago, and Nell was so far pretty high up in the order. She wore the mask of a swallow in order to protect her identity. When Nell asked why she’d chosen it, she said that bird imagery ran in her family. And that swallows were very interesting birds, in her opinion. Umi couldn’t help but laugh a little at that.

But Nell was probably right.

An explosion went off down on the racetrack, and Umi leaned forward to try and get a look. Not Nell’s battlewagon, but one behind her. Nell was in third, and she could just make out the tiny figure of her girlfriend swiping at another racer with a scimitar. The other racer fell back, but Umi was too far up to see any blood or anything. She cheered in excitement.

The race was way more exciting than Umi thought it would be. Of course, she expected to be entertained, but this was way more than than she’d thought. Already six wagons had been destroyed, and she was pretty sure at least two people were dead. She was never telling Mom about this race. _Never_.

\--

After the race, in which Nell’s battlewagon came a solid second, the pair of them reunited just outside the race area, next to an inconspicuous shed. Well, Umi hoped it was inconspicuous. Either way, she was hugging her girlfriend now, anyone else could fuck off.

Nell bounded up to her, shoving her mask in a bag at her side. Her long hair was braided down her back, but half of it had fallen out of the braid and stuck to the back of her neck with sweat. She was grinning. Umi grinned too. “Great job!” she said, opening her arms for Nell to hug her.

Nell flung herself into them, holding Umi close. “Thanks!” she said, her voice muffled by a mouthful of Umi’s thick dark hair. “I’m surprised I got that far. Mom disagrees, but I bet it’s ‘cause she wasn’t racing today.” Umi laughed. She couldn’t help but agree with Nell--her moms were two of the best battlewagon racers out there, known as the Raven and the Ram. They pretty much dominated the desert every time they raced.

“Either way, Umi said, “I’m happy for you!” She stepped back from Nell a little bit, grinning at her. “Come on, your mom said something about dinner?”

Nell snorted, slinging an arm over Umi’s shoulder as they headed back towards the city. “As long as neither of my moms are cooking, we’ll be good,” she said. Umi laughed.

“Yeah,” she said, “that’s very true. We should probably go rescue the food before they try.”

Hand-in-hand, the pair of them headed back to Nell’s home, unable to stop grinning at each other, no matter how hard they tried. Not that they tried much at all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Nell being Sloane and Hurley's daughter is 100% Vax's (@protectoroffaeries) idea!


	10. Nine: Beginning of the Bureau

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things are starting to pick up, finally...

Honestly, Umi never believed that the Millers would be able to do it. A floating base designed to look like a moon seemed impossible to her when Mom said she wanted one. But Mrs. Miller said she could do it, and Mom believed her. Umi just waited and watched.

Now it was done, and the four of them - Mom, Umi, and the Millers - stood in front of the finished moon-base. Mrs. Miller and Lucas looked proud of themselves, and Lucas kept giving Umi high-and-mighty looks that made her want to stick her tongue out at him. But she was nineteen now, and sticking her tongue out at Lucas would be very childish. Or so Mom said, when Umi did it three weeks ago.

Really, the moon-base was pretty amazing. It was huge, as big a town. There were dome-shaped buildings, elevators, an open green with what looked like actual grass growing. It would not be inaccurate to say that Umi was impressed.

But that didn’t mean she didn’t want to smack that smug look off Lucas’ face.

Mom grinned, turning to Mrs. Miller. “It’s wonderful,” she said. “Just perfect.” She moved as though she was about to hug Mrs. Miller, but stopped herself. “You both did so well.”

Mrs. Miller grinned right back. “Come on,” she said, “I’ll show you everything.”

She and Lucas took the pair of them on a tour of the base. The showed them the transport room, where they would leave and re-enter the base from. She showed them the main room with Mom’s office, several dorm buildings, a training center, and a weird square building that Mom explained was to be used by someone she called “Garfield”. Umi had no idea who that was.

They finished the tour in the middle of the green area, next to a few trees. “I hope it’s what you wanted,” Mrs. Miller said. “It was difficult to do, if I’m honest.”

Mom nodded, looking around. “I can see,” she said. “It’s perfect.”

\--

Mom had begun to hire people to help her hunt the artefacts and live on the moon-base. They seemed pretty...interesting for the most part. There was a dark elf wizard, who insisted Umi call him “Magic Brian, darling!” Umi was too scared to ask him if there was a regular Brian she should know about. There was also a gnome who introduced himself as Leon, and a dwarf called Boyland. They seemed okay to Umi. Leon reminded her of Davenport sometimes.

The moon-base was supposed to launch soon, but Mom wanted to gather some more people first. Just a few more, she said, preferably with some kind of fighting experience. Umi’s own suggestion was Nell, but if she was honest her girlfriend was too dedicated to her battlewagon racing to do anything else. Though, thinking about Nell in any capacity made Umi grin a lot, so there was that.

Mom promised that sometime she would tell Umi what it was she needed the moon-base and all these people for exactly. She was waiting for the right time, she said. Umi had no idea what that meant, but it was all right. She hoped it was soon, whatever the “right time” was. She wanted to know, and to help.

By “help” she meant find people that could possibly fight for Mom. She needed more warriors, after all, and while Umi didn’t know a lot of people, she seemed to run into interesting people by just existing. That was how she met Nell, after all. Something about Umi just attracted weird people, apparently.

Like the tall orc lady who introduced herself to Umi at an art gallery opening. Well, she was the bouncer, technically (why an art gallery needed a bouncer, Umi didn’t know and wasn’t about to ask), carrying a crossbow almost as big as Umi on her back, but she didn’t say “Hi, my name’s Killian, what’s yours?” to everybody who walked in.

Umi blinked at the woman, eyed the crossbow, and said, “Uh, Umi. I’m Umi. Nice to meet you...I guess?”

The orc (Killian) shrugged. “Sorry. Too weird?”

Umi nodded. “Yeah, a little bit.”

Killian grimaced and said “Sorry” again. Then she said, “You just have one of those faces. Like, I feel like I should talk to you. I don’t know.” She shrugged.

Umi shook her head. “It’s all right,” she said, “I like meeting new people.”

She talked to Killian for a little bit, then went to look at the art, and when she got home that night, she told Mom about the really buff bouncer who’d said hello to her for no good reason. “I don’t know, Mom, it seems like she could be the kind of person you’re looking for.”

Mom tapped her pen against her chin, nodding slowly. “Maybe,” she said, considering. “It’s possible. If you saw her again, do you think you could recognize her?”

Umi nodded. “For sure. There’s not that many orcs in this city, especially not with crossbows that big.”

\--

So the next time Umi saw Killian, she asked her if she would be willing to meet with Mom for a job opportunity. Killian agreed. When they met up, and Mom laid out her plans and what she would need Killian for, the orc woman tapped her crossbow, deep in thought.

“And the pay is good?” she asked, looking between the two of them.

Mom nodded. “Better than you’re getting paid now,” she said. “What do you say?”

Killian considered. She considered for a long few minutes. Then, she said, “All right. I’ll do it. If I can protect the world a little bit, I want to do what I can.”

Mom grinned, and extended her hand for Killian to shake. As the orc woman took it, Mom said, “Welcome to the Bureau of Balance.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to @protectoroffaeries for all the encouragement!! You can find me at monkbeauregard on tumblr to talk about this fic or taz in general.


End file.
